Adams v. Heckler

• Decision Date: 26 June 1986
• Docket Number: No. 85-1261,85-1261
• Citation: 794 F.2d 303
• Parties: , Unempl.Ins.Rep. CCH 16,851 Cecil O. ADAMS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Margaret M. HECKLER, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services of the United States, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 303

794 F.2d 303

4 Fed.R.Serv.3d 1086, Unempl.Ins.Rep. CCH 16,851

Cecil O. ADAMS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Margaret M. HECKLER, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services of the United States, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 85-1261.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Feb. 19, 1986.

Decided June 26, 1986.

Roger Edward Ryan, Springfield, Ill., for plaintiff-appellant.

Rosemary Rodrigquez, U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services, Chicago, Ill., for defendant-appellee.

Before CUMMINGS, Chief Judge, COFFEY, Circuit Judge, and WILL, Senior District Judge. ^*

CUMMINGS, Chief Judge.

This appeal requires us to apply several provisions of the Federal Magistrate Act of 1979 and to delineate the standards for determining when we will grant a petition for leave to appeal under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 636(c)(5). For the reasons set forth below, we treat plaintiff's notice of appeal as a petition for leave to appeal and deny the petition.

I

On May 15, 1981, plaintiff filed an application for social security disability benefits. He alleged that he was disabled from performing any substantial gainful employment due to chronic obstructive lung disease (end-stage emphysema). The application was initially denied on June 30, 1981. Plaintiff filed a timely Request for Reconsideration which was denied on September 16, 1981. Plaintiff filed a timely appeal from this denial, a hearing was held before Administrative Law Judge Clark on December 7, 1981, and Judge Clark ruled on January 28, 1982, that plaintiff was not entitled to any benefits. A Request for Review of Judge Clark's decision was timely filed on February 3, 1982, and the Appeals Council rendered its decision affirming the decision of Judge Clark on March 18, 1982.

After having had his application for disability benefits denied at every level of administrative review, plaintiff on May 24, 1982, filed a complaint in district court for judicial review of the final agency decision denying him benefits. Defendant subsequently filed an answer and a motion for summary judgment. On October 19, 1982, the matter was referred to U.S. Magistrate Charles H. Evans. On February 10, 1983, plaintiff received a Notice of [Parties'] Right to Consent to Disposition of Civil Case by a U.S. Magistrate. This Notice stressed that such consent was "entirely voluntary." (Exhibit B to plaintiff's supplemental memorandum regarding jurisdiction). ¹ The parties were notified on August 22, 1983, that a "Hearing on Pending Motions" was scheduled for September 23, 1983, in the room assigned to Magistrate Evans in the Federal Courthouse in Springfield, Illinois (Exhibit C). On September 23, 1983, both parties executed the Consent to Proceed Before a United States Magistrate, and also elected appeal to the district court (Exhibit 1 to defendant's supplemental memorandum regarding jurisdiction). On October 4, 1983, the district court entered an Order of Reference referring the case to U.S. Magistrate Evans for all further proceedings and the entry of judgment in accordance with 28 U.S.C. Sec. 636(c) and the parties' consent (Exhibit E).

Magistrate Evans entered an order on October 24, 1983, granting defendant's motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff filed a notice of appeal on November 4, 1983, accompanied by the following letter to the clerk of the district court:

Enclosed herewith is Plaintiff's Notice of Appeal from the Order entered October 24, 1983 by U.S. Magistrate Charles H. Evans to the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois, Springfield Division. There is no transcript of the proceedings before the Magistrate. Please assemble and transmit the record in the customary manner. Please note that this appeal is to the United States District Court and not the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. (Exhibit F) (emphasis in original).

Plaintiff never took any steps to file a statement of the evidence or otherwise comply with Fed.R.Civ.P. 75(b). Due to this failure, no briefs were ever filed and the appeal to the district court lay dormant for more than fourteen months. On January 16, 1985, the district court affirmed Magistrate Evans' order for "[t]he reasons stated by Magistrate Evans in his order" (App. A-3). Plaintiff subsequently filed a notice of appeal in this Court.

Plaintiff claims several errors in the above-described process. First, he claims that the events leading up to his execution of the consent form on September 23, 1983, were inherently coercive, and thus his consent was invalid. Second, he complains that he was effectively denied appellate review by the district court. Third, assuming that we do not find in plaintiff's favor on the first two issues, plaintiff asks that his notice of appeal to this Court be treated as a petition for leave to appeal so that the merits of his appeal will be considered here.

II

To answer plaintiff's contentions, the Federal Magistrate Act of 1979 must first be briefly examined. For purposes of the instant case, the crucial aspect of this new legislation is that, upon the consent of the parties, a magistrate "may conduct any or all proceedings in a jury or nonjury civil matter and order the entry of judgment in the case * * *." 28 U.S.C. Sec. 636(c)(1). Unlike referrals to a magistrate under previous law, in which the judge was free to accept, reject, or modify the recommendations made by the magistrate, Delgado v. Bowen, 782 F.2d 79, 81-82 (7th Cir.1986), a referral under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 636(c) gives the magistrate full power to enter a final judgment without first making recommendations to the district court and having the district court adopt or reject his recommendations. The parties may then appeal directly to the appropriate United States court of appeals from the judgment of the magistrate in the same fashion as an appeal from any other judgment of the district court. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 636(c)(3). Alternatively, the parties may consent to appeal to a judge of the district court in the same fashion as an appeal from a judgment of the district court to a court of appeals. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 636(c)(4). If the latter course is pursued, the case in the district court may then be further reviewed on appeal by the appropriate United States court of appeals. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 636(c)(5). However, in this latter case, such an appeal is not an appeal as of right, as it is when the parties elect to appeal the magistrate's judgment directly to the court of appeals under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 636(c)(3). Instead, the appellant must petition the court of appeals for leave to appeal. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 636(c)(5). In all events, whether the initial appeal is to the court of appeals under Sec. 636(c)(3) or to the district court under Sec. 636(c)(4), the parties retain the right to seek ultimate review by the Supreme Court. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 636(c)(5). Ten circuits, including this one, have upheld the constitutionality of this statutory scheme. K.M.C. Co., Inc. v. Irving Trust Co., 757 F.2d 752, 755 (6th Cir.1985); Gairola v. Commissioner of Va. Dept. of General Services, 753 F.2d 1281, 1284-1285 (4th Cir.1985); D.L. Auld Co. v. Chroma Graphics Corp., 753 F.2d 1029, 1031-1032 (Fed.Cir.1985), certiorari denied, --- U.S. ----, 106 S.Ct. 83, 88 L.Ed.2d 68; Fields v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, 743 F.2d 890, 893-895 (D.C.Cir.1984); Geras v. Lafayette Display Fixtures, Inc., 742 F.2d 1037, 1045 (7th Cir.1984); Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb, Inc. v. Clark Oil & Refining Co., 739 F.2d 1313, 1316 (8th Cir.1984) (en banc), certiorari denied, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 906, 83 L.Ed.2d 921; Puryear v. Ede's Ltd., 731 F.2d 1153, 1154 (5th Cir.1984); Collins v. Foreman, 729 F.2d 108, 120 (2d Cir.1984), certiorari denied, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 218, 83 L.Ed.2d 148; Goldstein v. Kelleher, 728 F.2d 32, 36 (1st Cir.1984), certiorari denied, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 172, 83 L.Ed.2d 107; Pacemaker Diagnostic Clinic, Inc. v. Instromedix, Inc., 725 F.2d 537, 547 (9th Cir.1984) (en banc), certiorari denied, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 100, 83 L.Ed.2d 45; Wharton-Thomas v. United States, 721 F.2d 922, 929-930 (3d Cir.1983).

A

The first issue raised by plaintiff concerns the voluntariness of his consent. Plaintiff conceded at oral argument that his consent was not coerced, yet he maintains that the procedure below somehow lacked the manifestation of consent required by the statute.

The consent required under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 636(c) must be "clear and unambiguous." Geaney v. Carlson, 776 F.2d 140, 142 (7th Cir.1985); Archie v. Christian, 768 F.2d 726, 728 (5th Cir.1985); Parks v. Collins, 761 F.2d 1101 (5th Cir.1985); Alaniz v. California Processors, Inc., 690 F.2d 717, 719-720 (9th Cir.1982). The consent must be explicit and cannot be inferred from the conduct of the parties. Geaney, 776 F.2d at 142; Archie, 768 F.2d at 728; Parks, 761 F.2d at 1106. Of course, such consent must be voluntarily given. Wimmer v. Cook, 774 F.2d 68, 76 (4th Cir.1985). These standards regarding the validity of the consent must be carefully observed, for as we have previously noted valid consent is the linchpin of the constitutionality of 28 U.S.C. Sec. 636(c). Geaney, 776 F.2d at 142; Geras, 742 F.2d at 1040-1041.

Applying these standards to the instant case, plaintiff's consent was valid, and so the magistrate properly had jurisdiction to enter a final judgment. Since plaintiff signed the consent form, there is no dispute that plaintiff's consent was clear, unambiguous, and explicit. Nor is there any argument that plaintiff was persuaded or induced by the magistrate to sign the form. Instead, plaintiff contends that it was intrinsically coercive for the magistrate to schedule a hearing and then, on the day of the hearing, expect the plaintiff to consent or not consent to the magistrate's jurisdiction. However, it is wrong to characterize the decision facing plaintiff as a "Hobson's choice." ² If plaintiff had not consented, there is no indication that the scheduled...